Cross Country: SL wins division at MSU

minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">The Lakers bested 33 competing teams in its Bronze Division to take top honors at the event, including beating out Forest Hills Eastern by just one point in the final standings.

minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">“This was our first time running at MSU,” said Lakers’ coach Aaron Andres. “We circled this meet at the beginning of the season as a race to run our best. We wanted the girls to experience a large meet with over 30 teams running. All week leading into the meet, we talked about pushing together as a group.”

minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">The Lakers executed the strategy flawlessely, as their four runners in the top 15 finished within 26 seconds of one another.

minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">Senior standout Brittany Beeler led the Lakers with a sixth-place finish, clocking in at 19 minutes, 23 seconds. Sophomore Carlyn Arteaga was three seconds behind in eighth place, while Erin O’Keefe and Ashley Warner each finished at 19:59, but O’Keefe was awarded 14th place and Warner 15th.

minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">“Carlyn ran a personal best by over 30 seconds,” Andres noted.

minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">The Lakers also had Lacie Piekarski finish 40th in a time of 21:09, and Brooke Carrier in 43rd at 21:20.

minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">“These girls really stepped up and we look forward to getting stronger as an entire team going into our conference jamborees,” Andres said.

minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">The Bucs’ boys finished 31st out of 70 schools, led by a season-best finish by senior Justin Pippel at 16:26, which was good for 42nd overall.

minor-latin;mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin">Head coach John Tarr was also pleased with the efforts of Will Swain (17:12, 113th) and Nick Johnson (17:27, 146th).

mso-bidi-font-family:Tahoma">"It's great to see Will back into his competitive form, and Nick continues to shave time,” Tarr said. “We are continuing to improve with a very young team. We had three sophomores and a freshman in the lineup."

mso-bidi-font-family:Tahoma">Jordan Diephouse (18:05) was the fourth-fastest finisher for the Bucs, John Miles was fifth (18:25) and Brent Petersen (18:35) was the sixth Grand Haven runner to cross the line.